Italian steakhouse Davio’s steaking a claim at Patriot Place

New restaurant outside Gillete Stadium looks like a can’t-miss proposition. Italian steakhouse Davio’s is feeding the appetite of diners at the burgeoning Patriot Place complex.

Steve Adams

Davio’s owner Steve DiFillippo sounds optimistic about the prospects for his new Italian steakhouse at Patriot Place.

If the location is critical for a restaurant’s success, this one looks like a can’t-miss proposition. DiFillippo already has Sept. 7 circled on his calendar – the date of the New England Patriots’ season opener at neighboring Gillette Stadium.

“We’ll have 70,000 people walking by our door on game days,” DiFillippo said.

The 153-seat restaurant and bar opened two weeks ago. It has a staff of 75 employees, but DiFillippo said he’s looking to hire another 25 people to staff the busy location.

The 23-year-old original Davio’s in Boston is a popular destination for the city’s sports stars and business elite. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a regular patron at the Back Bay restaurant, asked DiFillippo to consider opening a suburban outpost at the 1.3-million-square-foot Patriot Place retail complex that the Krafts were building in Foxboro.

“We got to know them pretty well and it just seemed to make a lot of sense,” DiFillippo said.

The Foxboro menu is nearly identical to the flagship Davio’s, with signature entrees such as tagliatelle bolognese and veal chop. The Foxboro location also contains a bakery with homemade breads and pastries prepared daily.

The clientele leans more toward families than the business crowd at the Boston location, DiFillippo said. And events such as Wednesday’s Boys II Men concert at the nearby Showcase Live nightclub can bring in a younger crowd.

For now, the restaurant opens for dinner at 5 p.m., but DiFillippo will begin experimenting with a lunch menu after Labor Day. For Sunday home games, the restaurant will open at 10 a.m.

A late-night lounge menu also is targeted at people coming from events at Gillette Stadium and Showcase Live.

Davio’s is the latest in a series of downtown restaurants to test the potential of suburban locations. Back Bay Italian bistro Croma opened a 146-seat restaurant last summer at the Village at Colony Place in Plymouth.

Aquitaine, the South End French bistro, will open a second location next year at the Legacy Place lifestyle center in Dedham.